Tuesday, 22 February 2011

You can now search burial records at Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery which is Canada's National Cemetery, National Military Cemetery and RCMP National Memorial Cemetery.

The information is quite comprehensive, but remember that the informant for burial information is not always well placed to have exact details. Here's what Ancestry have to say about the records:

The five burial ledgers digitized in this database document interments at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario, from 1873 to 1990. The ledgers also contain names for some people who died before 1873 (as early as 1821) whose remains were later moved to Beechwood.
Beechwood Cemetery was established in 1873 on a rural site outside of Ottawa. Though it began as a Protestant cemetery, it grew to reflect the multicultural character of Canada itself and now includes a Chinese and other ethno-cultural sections.
In 2001 the cemetery became the National Military Cemetery of the Canadian Forces. The RCMP National Memorial Cemetery was established at Beechwood in 2004. And in 2009 Beechwood was designated the National Cemetery of Canada. Beechwood is the last resting place of statesmen, veterans and war dead, historical and sports figures, as well as “everyday” Canadians, including plumbers, farmers, housewives, and waiters.
The interment records are indexed by name, death date, birth date, birthplace, and parents' names. Depending on the year, ledger pages may also include the following information:

last residence

occupation

gender

disease or cause of death

date of interment

place of interment

funeral director or undertaker

informant (relative or friend)

informant’s relationship to the deceased

Please note that interment records are spread over two pages in the ledger books. When viewing the images, be sure to browse to the next image to find additional information about the deceased individual.

Some of the prominent people buried at Beechwood are:
Sir Robert Borden: 8th Prime Minister of Canada;
Tommy Douglas: politician, voted "The Greatest Canadian";
Sir Sandford Fleming: Scottish-born Canadian engineer and inventor who proposed the global system of standard time zones;
and
Sir Cecil Spring-Rice: British ambassador to the US during WW1

Here is his entry, across two pages:

He was author of the words used for the hymn I Vow to Thee My Country (sung at the funeral of Princess Diana)

In case anyone is interested in the origin of the music for this hymn. The English composer Gustav Holst adapted the melody of the central section (Jupiter) of his seven-movement orchestral suite The Planets in 1921 to fit the metre of a poem beginning "I vow to thee, my country" by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice. As a hymn tune this melody has the title Thaxted, after the town in Essex where Holst lived for many years, and it has also been used for other hymns, such as "O God beyond all praising". Wikipedia